Strange Events at Museums

RF398

Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - Cosford Aerospace MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The last remaining Avro Lincoln Bomber situated here is said to be haunted by a pilot seen in the cockpit, while a tape recorder left on board overnight picked up the sounds of a busy airport, though the hanger and the area were devoid of life.

Landing Craft

Location: Albrighton (Shropshire) - RAF Cosford (now Aerospace Museum)Type: UFODate / Time: December 1963Further Comments: This ufo report was based on a story made up by two young people returning late from a leave pass. As time went on, the story grew, and it eventually became that an UFO had touched down near a hanger on the base, and was recovered and removed for reverse engineering.

Face in a Coffin

Location: Belfast (County Antrim) - Crumlin Road Prison (now a museum)Type: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: A visitor who lay in a coffin for a photograph later realised that the captured image showed a strange face next to his. It is worth noting that the photograph is likely to be a case of pareidolia rather than the paranormal. The prison is also home to a phantom man seen walking down C Wing, and the sounds of both male and female voices.

Jenner

Location: Berkeley (Gloucestershire) - Edward Jenner MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: May 2009Further Comments: BBC photographer Chris Sandys caught a strange humanoid shape on film while creating a panoramic photo within the museum. Some believe the image to show Jenner himself, while others believe the image to be an illusion caused by shadow and light.

Fred or Mary

Location: Blandford Forum (Dorset) - Royal Signals MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 2006Further Comments: Once known as Fred, the ghost that moves small objects and creates phantom footsteps and cold spots was renamed Mary. It is believed she was a local woman who was due to marry a US serviceman during World War 2, but was murdered just before her wedding day in the area where the museum was constructed.

Herman the German

Location: Bovington (Dorset) - Bovington Camp - Tank MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1970sFurther Comments: The area around the Tiger tank on display is reportedly haunted by the German commander of the vehicle, who has been seen by staff at the museum.

Albert Codd

Location: Bridport (Dorset) - Bridport MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 2006Further Comments: The otherworldly gentleman observed in a yellow smoking jacket is said to be Captain Albert Codd, a former owner of the building. Staff also named another entity Gladys, and thought she was associated with a Victorian dress in a case on the upper floor.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Location: Bristol (Somerset) - British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (no longer open)Type: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Brunel once had his office in the area which was dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The smell of his tobacco smoke and the steady pacing footsteps has unnerved several members of staff.

Vanishing Boy

Location: Bromsgrove (Hereford & Worcester) - Avoncroft MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 31 March 2013Further Comments: While at an reenactment event, one participant spotted a boy standing by a fireplace in the Merchant's House. The boy was no older than thirteen, with shoulder length wavy hair, a red tunic and a brown leather belt around the waist. As the participant approached the boy, the young lad vanished.

A Normal Family

Location: Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk) - Manor House MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Reportedly resembling a 'normal' family visiting the building, this gang of ghosts disappear without trace... A number of other figures from the buildings past also frequent the corridors and halls, including a couple of servants and a young child.

Oppressive Atmosphere

Location: Calverton (Nottinghamshire) - Folk Museum, Main StreetType: OtherDate / Time: Twentieth centuryFurther Comments: People in the building have reported an oppressive and malicious atmosphere, though nothing is ever seen.

Animated Stone Lions Drink from the Gutter

Location: Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) - Fitzwilliam MuseumType: LegendDate / Time: Midnight (Reoccurring)Further Comments: On the stroke of midnight, the lions that stand outside the Fitzwilliam Museum leave their posts to drink from the gutters a few meters away. Other sources say they disappear inside the building they guard.

Dunbar Smith

Location: Cardiff (South Glamorgan) - National Museum of WalesType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The ghost of Dunbar Smith was brought back to earth after his ashes were removed to make room for a public toilet - Smith was the architect of the building.

Unlucky Art

Location: Carlisle (Cumbria) - Cursing Stone, Carlisle MuseumType: CurseDate / Time: 2001 onwardsFurther Comments: Since the installation of artist Gordon Young's sculpted granite 'Cursing Stone' inscribed with a 16th century curse in one of Carlisle's museums in 2001, misfortune has plagued the city - local farm stock were wiped out by foot-and-mouth disease, a devastating flood occurred, several factories have closed, a boy was murdered in a local bakery and Carlisle United football team dropped a league.

Laughing

Location: Chelmsford (Essex) - Essex Regiment MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 2013?Further Comments: One witness claimed to have heard the laugh of a child and the slamming of several doors, one after another, in the early hours of the morning.

Location: Colchester (Essex) - Hollytrees Museum, Gun Room, near portrait of Anne LisleType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Quite familiar to the staff, Anne Lisie is often heard running past the Gun Room, though she has manifested before - usually seen by young children. Faces looking out of the windows in the rear of the building have also been reported late at night.

Location: Croston (Lancashire) - Gradwell's Farm, now a museum, and nearby roadType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1958Further Comments: This woman fell in love with a monk from the site, and threw herself in the well after being rejected - the forty foot drop into the water below killed her. Her shade was once hit by a bus on the nearby road; the driver was convinced he had hit a real person, though no body was found...

Former Workers

Location: Derby (Derbyshire) - Pickford's House MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: A long dead gardener still walks along the lawns he once worked so hard on, while a woman haunts the kitchen. The child seen dancing in the house is thought to be a member of the Pickford family.

Mrs Cunningham

Location: Devizes (Wiltshire) - MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The Cunningham family donated their family home to the local council for adaptation into a museum, and since then an elder Cunningham matriarch has manifested in the building. It is unclear whether this is in protest or approval of their charitable act.

The Curate's Wife

Location: Didsbury (Lancashire) - Fletcher Moss Museum, was the Old ParsonageType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Pre 1865 (wife), late nineteenth century (others)Further Comments: It was rumoured that a former curate was responsible for his wife's death in the property, but disappeared before he could be questioned. Regardless, strange things would happen and drive out new occupants for years after the event. Later in the nineteenth century Rev Fletcher Moss documented bells in the building ringing for no reason and the sound of footsteps and of doors opening during the night.

Maid

Location: Donington Le Heath (Leicestershire) - Donington le Heath Manor House MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Once owned by a friend of Guy Fawkes, this former manor house is reputed to be haunted by a ghost of a housemaid. A phantom man wearing a tall brimmed hat is also said to have a home here, and is thought to be from the seventeenth century.

Headless Woman

Location: Dorchester (Dorset) - Dorset County MuseumType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Mid 2010Further Comments: The PIT (Paranormal Investigation Team) group claimed to have photographed two entities within the museum, Judge George Jeffreys and Mary Anning. The latter was headless in her picture.

Nineteenth Century Soldier

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - National Museum of Ireland (was Collins Barracks)Type: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 2000sFurther Comments: Several entities are said to exist at this former barracks, including a black shadowy figure and a soldier in nineteenth century uniform. Truck drivers have reported seeing figures in Napoleonic era uniforms burying the dead in Croppy Park, while visiting tourists said that they had watched soldiers in First World War uniforms, believing them to be a reenactment group. Screams, panicked horses and gunfire have also been heard coming from the area.